"Cherish" Room - Day 4

Today I was going 'off my rocker'!  Since children's rockers are always in demand for the holidays, I thought I better have a painting day at home getting the rockers I've found ready for my space.

This is a classic hardwood rocker and has simple styling for a child's room.  It is a collectible rocker from Nichol and Stone Co. Gardner, Massachusetts. I've had it in my space but it hasn't sold - it seems people just want some color these days.  Making the decision to paint a collectible piece of furniture is always a hard thing to do, but the goal is to provide a product that people want so it's getting painted!  Then the next hard decision - what color?!

I decided to go with Emperor's Silk red from the Annie Sloan chalk paint line - perfect for a little "Emperor" or "Empress"!  Red is a popular choice for children's rooms being able to accent cowboy or cowgirl, aviation, farm, sports, circus, primary colors or other themes.

Next, I added a clear wax, and then a layer of dark wax.

After buffing it out, the dark wax gives the rocker a richer finish, adding to the classic styling and preserves the heirloom quality of this rocker - perhaps this will be received by some cute toddler as a Christmas gift and then become an heirloom when it's passed down to future heirs!

Next, this oak rocker will be beautiful painted old white and then shabbied.

 

 The detailing on the back gives it the necessary frill for a little princess!

 Here is is after I coated it in Annie Sloan's Old White.

Next, I sanded it to bring out all the detail - but I wasn't happy with it - I used a sander and I didn't like the way it was sanding everything instead of just the little details so I repainted the fancy part of the chair and distressed it again.

 This time I did it by hand using small pieces of folded sandpaper to get in the little crevices - I like it a lot better now because it shows off more of the intricate, frilly details!  I finished it off with some clear wax.

Now it's just precious and would also make an heirloom quality Christmas gift for any little princess!  I can't wait to see both of them under the tree in my space!

My third little rocker is a delicate antique wicker rocker with an extra side pocket for reading material! Don't worry - I'm not doing anything to this one! This would make a great prop for a children's portrait photographer.  I think I'll make a little pillow for it's seat  - but choosing fabric is always hard to do because the fabric choice could either make or break a sale!  So I thought I'd ask my readers -what kind of fabric do you see on this?

 I need help with this one too!  What color would you paint this little rocker?  I think it needs a cushion too so think about color and fabric choice! I'm open to any suggestions! Leave me a comment below this post and we'll see what others think! Tomorrow is a big day - moving lots of furniture in!

Before & After: Vintage 'Fashion Flow' Set

Walking through the aisles at the last Sacramento Antique Fair, I saw a stack of furniture that I had to go check out further.  There was a twin headboard, foot board and rails set up with a desk set up in the middle, and all the pieces of another twin bed sitting alongside. I fell in love with the vintage vibe of this set immediately!

These pieces all had metal cutwork accents: The head board and foot board had strips about 4" wide metal cut work accenting them.  The wood was a blond burl wood but had lost its finish and had lots of nicks and scratches on them.   

 I wasn't quite sure if this piece was a desk or a vanity until I found the beautiful beveled glass round mirror that went with the set.  There was also the little apron piece that held the mirror in place sitting in the pile! So I determined it to be a vanity but it could also be a desk if someone didn't want to use the heavy beveled mirror. The vanity had the same metal design under the drawers on each side.  This cut work metal design was also used for the cup handle hardware on the desk. 

This closeup really shows the condition of the wood - this desk/vanity was definitely well used.  Inside one of the top drawers I found a tag that read "Fashion Flow Furniture".  I looked it up on the internet and couldn't find much but did find an ad from 1937 - which I think fits about the era of this desk/vanity, and the dealer said she bought it at an estate sale in Reno.  So if any of you know anything about it let me know!  I debated whether I should restore the original finish to let the burl wood show through, but after closely scrutinizing it, I found the burl wood pieces were actually veneer so I started sanding it down and getting it ready for some paint magic!

Oops! this picture is upside down - still learning!! First step was to remove the hardware.  These had multiple layers of paint on them and the paint was chipped off in places.  I set them aside and sanded and primed the wood parts of the beds and the desk/vanity. 

While the primer was drying, I took some fine grit sandpaper to the hardware.  

These cleaned up well and looked like brand spanking new metal once I got done with them.  The multiple layers of paint must have protected them from rusting over the years. 

But the shiny metal wasn't going to look good with my shabby paint job, 

so I primed them and painted them white.

This close-up shows the desk/vanity all finished.  The cup pulls look great and repeat the pattern of the metal mesh at the bottom of the desk.  You can really see the mirror apron here and it also has that great metal mesh detailing. 

Here's a full front view of the refinished desk/vanity - I hadn't cleaned the mirror up yet!  A friend gave me the little vanity stool - I need to recover it since it is a little dirty but I am not sure if I want this one to stay with this vanity.  I have two more vanities I am working on and I like this stool better with another one!  Plus, this piece could actually be used as a desk so it may need a different type of chair.  What do you think?

The pair of beds will be great for two kids that share a room once I get done with them!

Multiple sandings to get the yellowed and cracked varnish off and then again after each coat of paint and I was able to get a smooth finish on these beds.

Then of course, another sanding to distress them when the painting was all done!

Here is one of the beds all finished!  The yellowed finished is now gone and the beds look fresh and ready for a new home!  I can just picture this set of twin beds in a pair of sisters' room with some of Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic comforters on them!  Oh - and some cute pillows!  I love pillows!!

And last, but not least, the desk/vanity WITH the mirror!!  I couldn't get a picture with the mirror outside because the mirror needs to have a wall behind it to support it.  It is now in my space at the store - you can see some of the little girl stuff in my space reflected in the mirror - but this vanity/desk would be perfect for any big girl as well - I hope it will be cherished by whomever takes it home because it has been one of my favorite pieces to refinish!  Who knows - I may just bring it back home and put it in my Hollywood room - after all - the 1930's were part of Hollywood's Golden Age!

I'm linking up to these parties!

http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/2011/07/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-link_28.html

Before and After: Roll Top Desk

This roll top desk was in pretty good shape when I found it 

but the varnish was starting to dry up and flake off.  

I was going to sell it "as is" but I really wanted to shabby it!

It is really sturdy and the roll top works perfectly -

a great candidate for a makeover!  The polished brass knobs had to go.

I'm going to replace them with some glass knobs from my collection.

The inside of the desk was in great shape as well - but again, those shiny brass plates on the front of the drawers weren't going to look so great once I painted this desk white!  I love the main drawer handle - it is carved wood so that will just get some white paint and little sanding- no need to replace it with that detail.

So I sanded and painted and sanded some more until all the wood was shabbied!  Then I set to work on the plates - a light sanding and then primed and dried.  I thought the gray primer color would look pretty good but it was too severe.  So I painted the plates and screw heads with a light gray spray paint and reattached them.

Next onto the knobs!  The knobs can make or break a piece - I first tried pink knobs but I didn't think the pink looked that great on a roll top - perhaps on a desk with some ornate carving.  Then I tried some antique green glass knobs I had - green may limit the buyers and I was doing this piece for resale.  So I went back to basic clear glass knobs.  I had three different kinds; flower, beaded edge and star. I finally settled on the star ones.

So with the plates and the knobs back on I just had to finish sanding

the inside desk area again so it was nice and smooth.  

 A dry paintbrush works great for dusting out all the dust from sanding.

With the lid closed, I sanded the ridges of the roll top so they would be shabbied, too.  You can see the nice carving in the drawer handle here.

This desk is ready for a new owner to cherish!

The solid oak desk has received a fresh makeover and is ready for a new home.

As the sun sets, I load the desk into the car, 

ready to take to Melange for our Bastille Day Sale!

Come on by if you are in the area and have some French treats 

- and maybe you will win one of our gift baskets!!

I'm linking up to these parties - check them out!

Before and After: Arm Chair & Mailbox

One look at this arm chair and I knew it would be gorgeous all shabby!  The carvings at the top of the chair were exquisite and I loved the ribbing down the curve of each leg.  It was nice and sturdy and came with a padded seat which I took off in order to shabby.  I started priming it and then remembered that I needed to take a 'before' picture - 

that is what the white is on it!

The pad just happened to be in great shape and I loved the tone on tone linen look so I just screwed the original pad back on after I sanded, primed, painted and then distressed the wood to help the beautiful carving stand out more!

This wall mailbox was dirty and had the remnants of stickers on the front.  It quickly got a thorough cleaning and some goo-gone took the sticker remnants right off. These mailboxes usually have a metal eagle attached where the holes are - but this one must have taken flight!  What was I going to replace the eagle with?  I wanted to make this look a little more feminine thinking it would be great for storing office files in home office.  It was just the right size, would even hold legal size and the closing lid would hide the mess of paper files out of view.  After some light sanding and a coat of primer, 

I decided I would paint this two-toned.

I grabbed all the wooden embellishments I had on hand and started placing them over the holes.  This one covered all of them beautifully!  So after some light sanding and priming, I decided to paint this pink and white, and then glued the wooden embellishment on with some E6000 glue.  Now this 'mailbox' is ready to store files or even to collect the mail!  Both of these projects are now on sale at Melange! 

Before and After: Shabby Beach Chair

Spring cleaning!  I've been trying to clean out one of my sheds and I am happy to say I have put a dent in the project!  I found this old chair in the back of the shed - I think it has been there about 18 years!  I've used it to stand on when painting rooms in my house so there was a little "history of our paint jobs" on it!  Not to mention, spiders, dirt, mud, and everything else that comes from living in the country!

It is extremely well made and there is not a wobble to it so it is a perfect candidate for a makeover! There are metal rods embedded into the rungs where your feet would land while you are sitting so it is extremely sturdy.  This chair was deserving of a new life! So I promptly began cleaning it up, first with just water and a brush, but then I ended up with a sander!  The years of paint splotches were not coming off with just my elbow grease so to the power tools to the rescue!

To prevent any of the stains on it to bleed through the paint, it was primed with some gray spray paint because that was all I had left in the shed and I thought to myself, "It doesn't really matter what color you put underneath if you are going to paint over it." Then I had to decide, always the hardest part, what color should I paint it?  This chair was a relic from the 50's and had been a teacher's desk chair.  Perhaps red?   It is just a simple chair, no embellishments, so it would fit into a cottage, country or coastal setting.  Tiffany blue!  The color has become much more popular lately and this chair seriously needs brightening up!

I started brushing on the paint really thick at first, wanting to get this project done and into Melange for our sidewalk sale.  The paint was wearing thin and the brush needed to be redipped in the bucket - but I liked what I saw.  The dry brush was creating a great shabby dry brush effect and texture, with the grey primer coming through underneath the tiffany color. It was beginning to be reminiscent of an old beach chair that had sat out for years so I continued with a dryer brush and covered the whole chair.

This shabby beach chair  had been freshened up and ready to be brought back to a life.  Gone are it's days sitting in the front of the classroom and in the back of the shed with the spiders and dust.  A whole new life awaits this chair to whomever cherishes it from Melange!  And you can imagine the new stories this chair will have to tell!